"A Whale of a Tale" is a song from the 1954 film ''

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea ''Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas'' (french: Vingt mille lieues sous les mers) is a classic science fiction adventure novel by French writer Jules Verne. The novel was originally serialized from March 1869 through June 1870 in Pierre-J ...

''. It is performed by

Kirk Douglas Kirk Douglas (born Issur Danielovitch; December 9, 1916 – February 5, 2020) was an American actor and filmmaker. After an impoverished childhood, he made his film debut in ''The Strange Love of Martha Ivers'' (1946) with Barbara Stanwyck. Do ...

, who plays Ned Land. It was written by

Al Hoffman Al Hoffman (September 25, 1902 – July 21, 1960) was an American song composer. He was a hit songwriter active in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, usually co-writing with others and responsible for number-one hits through each decade, many of wh ...

and Norman Gimbel. The recording of

singing the song was very popular at the time. Part of the song is also sung by a fish in ''

Finding Nemo ''Finding Nemo'' is a 2003 American computer-animated comedy-drama adventure film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Directed by Andrew Stanton with co-direction by Lee Unkrich, the screenplay was writ ...

'' as he and other similar fish swim in formation, resembling a vessel.

In the film

The song is first heard near the start of the film (the only time when it is heard in its entirety). It starts immediately after a conversation between Ned Land, Conseil, and Pierre Aronnax aboard the ship. Ned takes a guitar and steps onto the deck. The music attracts the attention of several of the crewmen, who listen excitedly with one even participating by singing the line "Held her tenderly" in an extremely low-pitched tone. It is immediately after Ned finishes the song that the '' Nautilus'' is finally encountered. While the full song is only performed once, it is frequently referenced throughout the film. After improvising a guitar out of a turtle shell, Ned is seen twice performing portions of the song: the first he sings part of the chorus to Esmeralda (a seal who resides on the ''Nautilus'') in an effort to hide the fact that he had been stealing treasure, in the second, a drunken Land sings a part of the song he composes to parodize

Captain Nemo Captain Nemo (; later identified as an Indian, Prince Dakkar) is a fictional character created by the French novelist Jules Verne (1828–1905). Nemo appears in two of Verne's science-fiction classics, ''Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas'' ( ...

and the ''Nautilus'''s cuisine, while Esmeralda "claps" her "hands" at the rhythm. There is also an instrumental version that is played as background music in several scenes.

References

External links

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''20,000 Leagues Under the Sea''
a
DBCult Film Institute

''20,000 Leagues Under the Sea''
at Turner Classic Movies {{DEFAULTSORT:Whale of a Tale Disney songs 1954 songs Songs with lyrics by Norman Gimbel Songs written by Al Hoffman Music based on works by Jules Verne Works based on Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea